Improvement in ventilation of mines



ILPETERS, PHOTO-LITHDGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, D C,

UNITED STATES PATENT Finca HERMAN HAUPT, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENTl IN VNTILTION OF MINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,065, dated June 6,1865.

To all whom t may concern: 4

Be it known that I, HERMANHAUPT, of Cambridge, in thecounty of Middlesexand State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Modes of Applying Steam-Power to SubterraneanOperations; and I nhereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same.

Heretofore it was deemed impracticable, if not impossible, to usesteam-power in subterranean operations,on account of the products ofcombustion of the fuel used'in keeping up steam in the generator and the,exhaust-steam soon vitiating the atmosphere,so as to render itimpossible for men to attend to the work.

The object of this invention, therefore, is to obviate the objectionsattending the use of steam machinery, and ithas been accomplished bysimple device consisting in the use of a pipe extending throughout thelength of the gallery or tunnel, through which pipe air is drawn orforced by means of a fan or other means.

To enable others to make and use my inventon, I shall now describe themanner in which the same is or may be carried into effect.

Referring to the drawing, which represents in horizontal section agallery or tunnel having a double track for the drilling or miningmachinery and steam-generator to advance upon with the progress of thework, A is a vacuum-fan, driven by steam or other power, placed outsideor inside of a mine or tunnel, and connected with a pipe, B, throughwhich the air is drawn. The pipe B, which extends up to the face of thework, or to any part ofthe gallery which it is necessar to ventilate,may be constructed of wood or metal. If of wood, it is put together withpieces like the staves of a barrel, the joints being coated with pitchor other cement or composition, to prevent leakage of air.

G is a boiler or steam-generator, which, in stead of a smoke-stack orchimney, communicates with the vacuum-pipe, 4into which all the smoke,exhaust-steam, and vitiated air are drawn, and by means of which theyare carried out and discharged outside the Vmine or tunnel, at the sametime creating a partial vacuum which establishes a current of fresh airflowing into the working. which connects the steam-generator with thevacuum-pipe, damp ers may be placed to regulate the intensity of thedraft.

For the ventilation of side mines or galleries braced pipes connectedwith the main pipe are employed. The pipe need not be placed on theoutside of the gallery or tunnel, but may be situated at any pointintermediate between the generator and the outer end. The fan, however,would then be double actingt'. e., be both a suction and forcing fan-thevitiated air being drawn to the fan, and is by it expelled or forced outat the end outside of the gallery.

In the drawing I have shown the pipe D connected with the exhausttube Bat a point intermediate between the two ends. This, it will be seen,isnot always convenient or practicable, because of the more or lessperfect joint that it would be necessary to make between the said pipeand tube. The mode I recommend consists in placing the generator or thepipe D at the forward end of the tube B. No hermetic joint is necessaryfor the perfect operation of the apparatus. No further practicalindications are deemed neces sary, as every competent mechanic wouldknow how to `adjust the parts for operation in accordance with theprinciple of this my invention.

Having thus described my invention and the manner in which the same isor may be carried into effect, I claim- 1 Thev use, in mining,tunneling, and other subterranean operations, of steam-generators, incombination with a vacuum-pipe.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specication beforetwo subscribing witnesses.

HERMAN HAUPT.

Witnesses:

A. PoLLoK, EDM. F. BROWN.

In the pipe D,

